Badal has high penchant for money: Partap Bajwa

Firing a fresh salvo at chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Partap Singh Bajwa said here on Thursday that the CM wanted to top the list of world's richest Sikhs and that was why he and his clan was 'plundering' the state.

Firing a fresh salvo at chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Partap Singh Bajwa said here on Thursday that the CM wanted to top the list of world's richest Sikhs and that was why he and his clan was 'plundering' the state. Talking to mediapersons at the residence of Congress Sewa Dal's state convener Pankaj Kirpal in Garhshankar, Bajwa said the present SAD-BJP rule was worse than that of Afghan invader Ahmed Shah Abdali.

"Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir are busy looting the state with both hands as they have a penchant for amassing wealth. On the one hand, people are being burdened with more and more taxes and on the other, Badals are busy accumulating tax payers' money," alleged the PPCC chief. Blaming the state government for alleged loot of farmers in paddy procurement, he demanded a CBI inquiry into how paddy purchased at throwaway prices from farmers, reached procurement agencies.

He said the involvement of Akali leaders in the drug trade had given enough proof of government's complicity in the illegal business. He went on to add that drug trade flourished under the garb of government sponsored kabbadi matches.

Ruling out alliance with Peoples Party of Punjab, he said the Congress would contest the parliamentary elections on its own. Countering claims of the deputy chief minister that many Congress MLAs were waiting to come to the fold of the SAD, Bajwa remarked that Sukhbir should worry about his own legislators, who, he claimed, were planning to switch loyalties to the Congress. Terming the allegations of land grab against him as political motivated Bajwa dared the CM to hold any inquiry. Responding to another query, he said the list of state office-bearers would be out in a few days.